Iron Girl
by Sky79
Summary: Alex Knight meets Tony Stark thanks to an intership with Stark Industries. Read her story and see just how she becomes Iron Girl. Has areas of post-movie but doesn't really tie-in with it. Ch 12 now up, story is complete. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The day had finally come for Alexandria Knight. The day she would find out where she would be interning. She was twenty-five years old, almost done with college. She was five foot five with mid length brown hair with hazel eyes. She was studying to become an engineer and she was one of the few who were top of their class. She always was the smart one in high school. She had been labeled a nerd at times, even though you wouldn't think that if you saw her as she looked liked she would hang with the popular crowd, though she never really did. She had a thing for taking things apart and putting them back together as a child. She could still remember when she was eight years old and she took apart her foster mothers watch, just to see how it worked, and being able to put it back together with no problem. To this day, her foster mother still doesn't know she ever did that. She walked through the halls of the University, heading to the career services department. She was to meet with Heather Noels, who was in charge of internships for the engineering majors. She didn't have to wait long, as she walked into the department and the woman at the front desk told her that Mrs. Noels was ready. She was nervous as she walked into the office.

"Nice to see you, Alex." she said as she motioned for her to sit. Alex sat down as Mrs. Noels shut her office door. She then went back to her desk where she sat down. She began to bring up Alex's information on the computer. "I got some really good news for you."

"You do?" Alex said with some excitement.

"Yes. You will be interning at Stark Industries. They've accepted you into their intern program." Mrs. Noels told her. Alex had a big smile on her face that she was trying to keep under control. Stark Industries was the company she wanted to work for once she got done with school. But now she had a sure foot in the door since she would be interning there. Mrs. Noels laughed when she saw the look on Alex's face.

"This is a dream come true!" Alex said with joy. "I promise to do my best."

"I'm sure you'll do great, Alex." Mrs. Noels told her as she got up and walked to the printer, getting a sheet that had just come out. "You'll start Monday morning. Here's the information telling you were to go. Mr. Stan Taki is whom you'll report to once there. He's in charge of the internship department." she told Alex as she handed the sheet to her. Alex read the paper and nodded. "Good luck!" Mrs. Noels added as Alex got up. Alex left the department with such a high. As soon as she was far enough away, she ran though the hall yelling, 'I'm working at Stark Industries!'

Tony Stark wishes he could feel what it was like to have a day off. It seemed lately he's forgotten that feeling. It's been nothing but work for him. Either with running his company, working with S.H.I.E.L.D. (who was his newest contract), or just being who he's become, Iron Man. As everyone knows, heroes don't get a day off, and he was beginning to see that. He was in his office at Stark Industries, looking though shipment orders for numerous military branches. Some were for weapons; some were for replacement parts for weapons. Stark made sure he would be the one to approve all orders before shipping. He wanted to make sure everything was legit and no one he didn't know about getting his weapons. He sighed to himself as he leaned back into his chair. You could tell he was tired 'I need a vacation, not a day off.' he thought to himself. He felt his eyes slowly beginning to close. He became relaxed and started to dream. He dreamt he was in Vegas, his favorite place to go. Two beautiful women, one on each side of him, watching him play a game of craps. He was enjoying himself in this dream. The women giggled at something he said. Just as he was about to kiss one, he woke up, startled. He was surprised he didn't fall out of his chair. The intercom on his office phone came on.

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Jackson is on line two for you. Shall I put him through?" his secretary had informed him.

"Put him through." he told her as he rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up.

"Tony!" Mr. Jackson said over the speaker.

"Hello Gene." Tony said back.

"Have I got some news for you! I have someone I would love you to meet. They remind me a lot of you."

"Really? I didn't think anyone could be like me." Tony told him. Gene laughed.

"Well, there is. Can you come by and meet them? You won't be disappointed, I promise you."

"Sure, I'll be there soon." Tony said just before he hit the button that turned off the speaker on the phone. He pushed himself away from his desk and got up. He walked out of his office and to his secratary. "Hold all my calls. I'll be down at the factory." he told her before walking away. Then he stopped and turned back to see her. "Oh and when's Pepper back from her vacation?"

"Monday, sir. That's when she'll be back here, anyways."

"Good." Tony said as he turned away and headed to the elevator.

He headed down to the parking garage where his car was located. He walked up to an Audi R8, which had license plates that said STARK 4. He got in and drove off for the factory.

It had been two weeks since Alex started interning for Stark Industries. People in the engineering department were already impressed with her work. She was able to solve some of the problems they were having with some of Stark's designs. What may have taken them days to figure out, she did in a matter of minutes. It was like she knew what Stark was thinking when he wrote out the blueprints. And cause of that, one man took notice. He was in change of the engineering department of this particular factory. He was also the one who was in direct contact with Stark himself. Alex had heard of this gentleman, but never had the chance to meet him, till now.

Tony Stark entered the lobby of the factory. The factory was one of the more smaller ones. It was also newer, only been open for two years. Tony took off his sunglasses as he walked towards Mr. Jackson, who was waiting for him. Mr. Jackson was an older gentleman, in his early fifties.

"I do need to thank you." Tony said as he approached him. "You gave me a reason to leave the office."

"Come, come," he said to Tony. "Let me show who I've found. I think you will be impressed." He led him towards his office. "First, let me show you something." he said as he handed some papers to Tony. Tony looked them over, trying to figure out what he was supposed to see. "Look closely."

"I am. These are my blueprints I gave you a few months ago. But….." he started to say as he saw someone's handwriting on some, one in particular that showed a flaw in his design. "Whose handwriting is this?" he asked as he put the other papers down on the desk and kept the one of interest in his hand.

"I'll show you." Mr. Jackson said as he began to walk out a backdoor that was attached to the office that lead out into the factory where workers with white lab coats were working on machines. Off into the far corner of the room was where the engineers were located. Working on computers and piecing things together. Mr. Jackson told Tony to stay where he was while he went to get the person. While he did that, Tony looked over the paper, trying to figure out why someone would change a design like they did. He didn't notice the beautiful woman Mr. Jackson was bringing back.

"Tony, I'd like you to meet Alexandria Knight." Mr. Jackson said. Tony looked up and was taken back. She was gorgeous to him. She had on a mid length skit, a lavender shirt, and black heels. She was also wearing a white lab coat like the others. He noticed she was lost for words.

"Please, call me Alex, Mr. Stark." she finally said while shaking his hand.

"Alex, huh." he said. "Well, Alex, did you do this?" he asked while showing her the paper.

"Yes. Is there a problem?" she asked. She couldn't believe that Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, was right in front of her, let alone talking to her.

"Why did you change the power output?" he asked.

"Well, sir, the power output was too strong for the laser that was inside the barrel. I just toned it down a bit so it wasn't making the other circuits burn out. The others didn't know what to do as they tried other things. But once I fixed the output, we no longer had any problems." she explained.

"Didn't I tell you she's a lot like you." Mr. Jackson said impressed.

"Me, like Mr. Stark?" she said.

"He is right. You are like me. And I feel like an idiot that I overlooked the output, especially on something so small. Mr. Jackson here showed me some other blueprints that you fixed. Seems like I've been rushing these and not researching them before sending them over. I think I got a job for you." he told her. Her eyes lit up. "I want you to be my assistant to my projects. Over look my designs, fix anything you may see is wrong or out of place, before submitting them to the factories. What do you say?"

"Um……" Was all she could say at the moment. Tony smiled. "I'm still only interning at the moment."

"Interning?" Tony laughed. "No, I'm hiring you. You'll be on payroll starting tomorrow." he told her.

"Then yes. I'll take the job." she told him.

"Good. Then I'll see you tomorrow at my office." he told her as he headed out, still holding onto the paper.


	2. Chapter 2

The following day came and Alex was excited as she entered the main headquarters of Stark Industries. She took the elevator up to the fourth floor where Stark's office was. She noticed the secretary and approached her.

"Hi. I'm here to see Mr. Stark. My name is Alex Knight."

"Yes. He's waiting for you. You can go in." she told her while pointing towards his office.

"Thanks." Alex said as she walked to the doors, which were closed. She slowly opened the one to the right and peeked in before walking through. Mr. Stark was reading something on his computer when he looked in her direction. She noticed and walked in.

"Good morning Mr. Stark." she said as she walked in.

"Alex! Nice to see you came. And please, call me Tony." he told her.

"Ok, Tony." she said.

"I brought some designs from home I want you to look over." he told her as he walked to her with some papers. "I also have an office for you, near my personal assistant, Pepper Potts. If for some reason you can't reach me, you can always get with her." he told her.

"Ok." she said as she began looking over the blueprints. "Did you just come up with these?" she asked, amazed at what she saw.

"A couple, yes. But some are from last week." he told her.

"Amazing." she said under her breath as he led her out of his office and into hers. She looked up and saw her office was a decent size. She had her own desk with computer, and a small work table.

"I hope this will be good for you." he said.

"Oh, it'll do fine." she said as she took it in.

"Good. Any other questions?"

"Just one." she said. "Will I ever be meeting this bodyguard of yours?"

"Oh." he said, thinking for a moment. "Probably not. Unless you're in trouble, then that's a different story." he told her. She just nodded. Then he left her to her work, while he went off to deal with something.

Three months passed by quickly. Alex was learning so much from working with Tony. There had been days when it was just him and her working on creating new chips and tech at a factory. They never talked about each others lives, they both kept to themselves. It was strictly business, till now. It was Saturday evening and Alex was heading over to Stark's house in Malibu to show him some designs she came up with. He had told her the day before for her to stop by and show them to him. She had the directions in hand as she headed to her car. She hated her car, it was getting old, but she knew one day she would get a new one, especially with her new position which was paying pretty damn nicely. She drove off for Malibu, not knowing that she was about to have an unforgettable night.

Alex drove up into the driveway. She was taken back as she got out and saw the house. It was huge, it was gorgeous. She walked up to the door and rang the bell. No answer. She rang again. No answer, still. She began to wonder if he was even home. She couldn't tell as there were no other cars in the driveway. She started to take out her cell phone when the door finally opened. She peered inside. "Hello?" she said as she walked in. She saw the living room, which was enormous. She looked over the place, holding onto her folder. "Tony? You home?" she asked as she made her way to the living room. She noticed some stairs to her left. "Tony?" she yelled down. "You down there?" she asked. No answer back. She began to make her way down the stairs, feeling a little uncomfortable in the process. She was near a door that was made of glass. There were long glass windows on both sides of the door. She looked in and could see work tables and machines. She wanted to go in but couldn't, when she noticed a computer keypad within the window of the door.

"Sir, Ms. Knight is outside the workshop at home." Jarvis told Tony as he was flying back as Iron Man. Jarvis was a computer program that Tony had created. Jarvis took care of everything in the house. He also was the program that ran his suit.

"What time is it?" he asked Jarvis.

"6:30pm, sir."

"Damn, I'm late." he cussed himself as he neared his home.

"Yes. This will be interesting to see how you explain yourself to her." Jarvis commented back. Tony sometimes wished he hadn't made Jarvis so human like.

Alex sighed as she began to head back upstairs but stopped short when she heard noise coming from the workshop. She turned back and tried looking in, to see what the noise was. Then she saw him, Tony Stark. He was in normal cloths, jeans and a shirt, and sneakers. He opened the door and came out.

"I'm sorry. I was in the back working on something." Tony said to her as he escorted her back upstairs. "I hope you weren't waiting long."

"No, not long." she said back. This was the first time she was seeing him away from work. She noticed something under his shirt. She stared for a moment then stopped.

"You hungry?" he asked her as he made his way to the cordless phone. "I know I am."

"A little." she replied.

"Good." he said as he began to dial out for pizza. He placed the order while Alex sat down on his couch.

"Nice place." she told him as he hung up the phone. He sat down next to her. "So, you live here all by yourself?"

"Yes, I do live here by myself. But I do have Jarvis." he told her.

"Who's Jarvis?" she asked. He looked to her.

"Jarvis is a computer program I made. He pretty much runs my house." he told her. "You wanted to show me something."

"Oh, yeah." she was taken a bit off guard, once she noticed herself staring at his chest again. She handed the folder over to him. He opened it up and began looking over the papers inside, impressed at what he was seeing.

"You came up with these all by yourself?"

"Yes, sir, I did." she said.

"I'm impressed. I may have a project for you." he told her while closing the folder and placing it on the coffee table. He looked at her and noticed she was looking at his chest. "You're wondering what this is, aren't you?" he asked while pointing at the thing that was under his shirt.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't stare. I was wrong." she said as she turned away quickly.

"Don't be sorry." he told her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't know how to react when she felt his touch. He slowly turned her around. "I'll tell you, 'cause there's something about you I like, I feel I can trust you." he told her. "It's a miniature arc reactor." he told her. "It's what's keeping me alive." he explained.

"Keeping you alive? I didn't know you had something wrong with you." she said.

He leaned back on the couch, looking up ward. Alex fixed herself on her side, intrigued by what he said. She looked at him, feeling things about him that she never did before. Maybe because he wasn't wearing a suit, she wasn't wearing her work cloths. Maybe because they were both away from work; or a combination of both.

"You see. I got this shrapnel inside of me, close to my heart." he began to tell her, now looking at her. He began to have the same feelings that she was having. "This arc reactor is what's powering the magnet inside of me, which is keeping the shrapnel suspended, keeping my heart safe."

"And what happens if the reactor dies, or breaks?" she asked, even more intrigued.

"Then I'll go into cardiac arrest and die. But I try not to think about that. Plus, this baby won't be going out any time soon." he told her as he straightened up, now on his side, looking at her. She smiled then turned her head away. He smiled also. He placed his hand on her leg and she noticed and once again, didn't know how to react. This was her boss, and she was feeling oddly attracted to him. She turned around and their faces met. The hand that was on her leg was now near her cheek. She could feel herself being pulled in, as their lips slowly met, the door bell rang. Thirty minutes had already gone by. Alex pulled away quickly, feeling ashamed while Tony got up to get the door. He paid the teenager and gave him a nice tip. If only Tony had knew how the drivers were fighting over who delivered the pizza once they found out who had placed the order. Tony shut the door and walked back into the living room, placing the box on the coffee table. He then sat down beside her again.

"Maybe I should be going." Alex said as she got up, grabbing the folder off the table.

"But the pizza just got here. You can't leave now." he told her. "Please, stay." he said. She sighed and sat back down. "I'm sorry for what almost happened." Tony said to her while opening the box.

"It's ok. It was just as much as my fault as it was yours." she told him. Tony got a slice out and gave it to Alex before taking one for himself. They sat there, eating, not saying much, till she broke the silence. "I grew up in foster care." she said. Tony looked at her, puzzled as to why she would say something like that to him. She noticed. "I figured since you told me about your reactor in your chest, I would share something about myself."

"Go on." he said.

"I grew up in foster care. I don't know who my parents are. I was never adopted. And here I am eating pizza with you." she told him. "Who would have guessed."

"Both my parents died in a car crash due to faulty brakes. I fixed that brake problem after that." he told her. She nodded. They ended up talking for hours. Tony found out just how smart Alex was by how she would explain things she did as a kid and teen. Alex found out how much stress Tony has at work and how he was as a teenager. After they spilled each others life story to one another, they both felt closer. Like really good friends, yet each wanted more then that. Alex looked at her watch and saw it was already ten 'o clock.

"I really should be going, it's getting late." she told him as she got up. "It's been real fun." she added. He got up also and walked her to the door.

"See you Monday at work." he said to her.

"Yup." she replied back. Tony watched her go to her car. She waved good-bye and he did so back. He watched her drive away before heading back in. Once inside, he headed down to his workshop to work on his newest creation. He sat at his computer and began to bring up renderings of Iron Man armor, he was in the process of designing a new suit. He had been working on it off and on for about a month. He started to think how the night went, how much fun he had with Alex. He wished he could have told her he was Iron Man, but he couldn't. Though the night did go well. Hopefully one day he could tell her. He only hoped.

"I take it Ms. Knight still doesn't know." Jarvis said as production of the armor was commencing.

"Yes, but she'll know soon enough." he told him as he began to work on a new computer program that was for another project. It wasn't till four in the morning when he finally went to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Monday came and Alex felt awkward as she entered Stark Industries. All she could think about was the kiss that almost happened with her boss. She decided she would talk with Pepper, since she spent the most time with him at work. She walked to Pepper's office and was relieved to see that she was in.

"Pepper, can I talk with you?" Alex asked as she walked in.

"Sure." Pepper said back as she stopped what she was doing. "What's on your mind?"

Alex closed the door behind her and sat down.

"You know Tony real well, right?" Pepper laughed when she heard that.

"I think I know him better then he knows himself." she told her. "Why you ask?"

"You promise not to tell anyone?"

"Sure." Pepper reassured her, wondering what it was that was so secretive.

"Ok. You see, I went over to Tony's house Saturday night to show him some of my designs, and well……" she began to say, starting to feel a bit embarrassed. "We almost……kissed." she finally said with her head down.

"Oh, sweetie." Pepper said as she got up. She went over to her. "Don't be embarrassed. It's Tony, he does that a lot." Alex looked up at her.

"What? You mean he does that sort of thing all the time." Alex said.

"Well….." Pepper started to say, not sure what to say now. She knew that Tony liked Alex a lot, that all he could think about was her.

"Listen, promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Not even Mr. Stark himself." Pepper said.

"Alright." she said. Pepper took a deep breath.

"Tony likes you. Like a lot. He thinks you're the smartest person he's ever met. He loves that you think just like him when it comes to designing tech. And I think deep down, he wants more then friendship" she told her.

"Well, we did talk about things other then work."

"That's good." Pepper said.

"But I feel……awkward now…..like how am I to act around him."

"Just be yourself." she told her. "Do you have feelings for him?" Alex didn't know what to say.

"I think I do." she said with a small smile. "Just how old is?" she asked her.

"He's a lot older then you. By ten years."

"Doesn't matter." Alex finally said. "I better get to my office and start working." she said to Pepper as she got up. "Thanks for the chat." she added just before she opened the door and left. She had a lot to think about now.

Tony Stark was in his office looking over paper work that Pepper had given him to sign. He had signed about five papers and saw he had more. He was starting to get sick of signing his name. He stopped for a moment as he put the pen down. He looked to his right and saw the folder. The folder that Alex had brought to his place and forgot to take back. He pulled the folder towards him and opened it. He smiled as he looked at the designs. He started to remember the fun they had that night, talking about their lives and joking around. He then started to remember a time when they were at one of his factories after hours. Alex had called him up asking for him to come down. She had left the office so she could test something out that she could only do in the factory. That was the first time they were both alone with each other.

"_So what's the problem?" Tony had asked her as he walked into the room. Alex turned to see him and smiled._

"_No problem, sir. I just wanted to show you something." she had told him. She had taken one of his designs and built upon it. Tony had come up with a new computer system that an everyday person could use. He had been trying to branch out to other areas, as he didn't like manufacturing weapons as much anymore, even though that was what was keeping his company alive. This new computer system would almost be like his, but simpler. It wasn't an A.I. like Jarvis, not even close._

"_I came up with something new." Alex told him as she brought a menu up on the computer screen. "Let me show you." she told him as she punched in some data. Off to the right was a room that the computer was connected too. They had built a test room, the reason why Alex had to come to this factory. The lights of the room came on and the door opened. Alex began to walk to it, her heels echoing as she walked. Tony followed. Inside of the room was a mock-up of what an average living room would look like. She walked to a keypad that was located on the wall. "First off, I built this little keypad a monitor. I didn't care for just the keypad by itself." she told him as she pushed a button and a small LCD monitor slowly rose up from within the keypad. Tony nodded to himself as he watched. He liked what he was seeing. He walked closer to her so he could look it over. The screen had menus that had sub-menus. "It's also a touch screen. So a person could use the keypad or the screen. People like it when they have choices." she told him. "The second thing I did was make it possible for someone to program the system if they wished. I felt like when it came to this design, everything had to be a certain way and the consumer, since that is who you want to sell this to, wouldn't be able to interact with it. And that's why I made it so someone could punch in what they would like it to do, rather then what was already pre-programmed." she explained to him._

"_I see." Tony said. _That was the day he knew she had what it took for re-working his designs.

"Mr. Stark." Pepper's voice said over his speaker phone. "I just wanted to remind you about your lunch meeting with Rhodey at one."

"I haven't forgotten." he replied back. "Is Alex in her office?"

"I believe she is." Pepper replied back.

"Good." Tony said as he got up, folder in hand. He walked out of his office and to Alex's. He saw the door was closed, but opened it without knocking first. Alex was sitting at the work table, which was connected to the left said of her desk, building a model off a blueprint when she heard the office door open. She lifted her head and saw him.

"You left this at my place." he told her as he approached her desk and laid the folder down.

"Thanks." she said to him while getting back to her model. She was trying to keep from looking at him, as all she could think about was Saturday night when she saw him.

"What are you building?" he asked as he walked around her desk and to where she was at. He stood behind her and watched.

"Just something off a blueprint." she told him, starting to feel uncomfortable with him behind her, but she kept working.

"Would you like to have lunch later?" he finally asked. Alex didn't know what to say. She put down her instrument and slowly lifted her head. "I have a lunch meeting this afternoon with my best friend and I'd like you to meet him." Alex kept quite for a moment. Then she turned herself around in her chair to see him, and god, was he close to her. She looked up at him, not sure what to say. A part of her said yes. The other was saying no, that things didn't feel right. _'Do you have feelings for him?'_ echoed in her mind, thinking of what Pepper had asked her.

"Sure." Alex finally said, after making up her mind.

"Good." Tony said with a smile as he began to walk to the door. "I'll come back around 12:30." he told her before he left. He shut the door behind him. Alex leaned back into her chair, looking upward. "What am I doing?" she asked her self out loud. She then looked at the small clock radio that was on her desk and saw it said 9:30 am. She decided to turn the radio on to keep her mind busy with work, though that didn't last long.


	4. Chapter 4

James Rhodes sat at a table in a restaurant waiting for Tony Stark. Rhodes was the liaison to Stark Industries. He worked for the military and was the contact person for them. He looked at his watch and saw that Tony was fifteen minutes late, which didn't surprise him. 'Leave it to Tone.' he thought. He was about to get out his cell phone when he finally saw Tony walking to the table, and had a beautiful young woman with him too.

"Sorry I'm late." Tony said as he pulled a seat out for the young woman who sat down.

"No you're not." Rhodes said to him with a small laugh.

"Rhodey, I'd like you meet Alex." Tony said to him.

"James Rhodes. Nice to finally meet you." he said to her as he shook her hand.

"Likewise." she replied back.

"I've heard things about you." he told her. She smiled.

"I hope all good." she said back. Rhodes nodded.

"All good." he assured her. He then looked to Tony who was sitting across from him. "You got those pictures?" he asked him. Tony nodded as he pulled a few pictures from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He handed them over to Rhodes. Alex didn't get a chance to glance at them, though she wondered what they were of. "Looks different from the prototype version." he said as he looked through them. A waiter came to the table and took their drink order. Rhodes noticed that Tony ordered a tea and not an alcoholic drink.

"Trying to kick the habit." Tony replied once the waiter left.

"That's a first." Rhodes replied a bit shocked.

"So, what are your thoughts on the final product?" Tony asked him.

"It looks good. I'll see what day you can demo this." Rhodes told him.

"If I may ask, what is this 'product'?" she asked.

"It's a mini robot that has an A.I. program, similar to Jarvis. It would be able to find the wounded quicker." Tony told her. "You actually helped make some of the microchips for the finally design." Tony added.

"I did?" she said. She always wondered what she was working on at times. Rhodes handed the pictures over to her for her to see. She liked what she was seeing. The waiter came back with the drinks and took their orders. The rest of the lunch went well. They talked and laughed. Rhodes would tell Alex things about Tony and vice versa. That day would be the last day she would see her boss for awhile.

A week had gone by quickly and Tony Stark was nowhere to be found. Though when Alex would ask Pepper where he was at, she would tell her that he was away on company business. That was all good, but flags were raised when the day came for him to be back.

It was Friday evening, six o' clock. Alex was on her way home from work when she came to a stop, due to a road block. She turned off her car as no one was moving. She rolled down her window and stuck her head out; trying to see what was going on. She saw police and military personal. She stuck her head back in and was puzzled as to what was going on. She knew she wouldn't be going anywhere as everything was at a stand still. Just as she was reaching for her purse, she heard a huge explosion that was just a few blocks up ahead. She saw a huge gush of smoke rise to the air. Others began to get out of their cars, to see. Alex started to get out slowly and saw a red blur flying towards her. Others saw also and began to run in panic. Alex began to run but tripped and fell to the ground, skinning her knee. She cussed at the pain. The red blur crashed down onto her car's hood, glass breaking. She looked back as she got up and saw her car was totaled. She also saw that the red blur was really Iron Man, who had been flung back at high speed. Police and military people were trying to get the others out of the area, and she noticed. She ran to the sidewalk, trying not to be noticed as she wanted to see what was going on. She watched as Iron Man slowly got off the car. He wasn't looking too good. His armor was all dull and cracks, along with dents, were shown. He looked in her direction and she felt a strange connection to him. He then fell to his knees and then completely down, his head lying on the ground. She began to feel herself walking towards him, like in a trance, but was quickly pulled away. A police officer was walking her back towards the sidewalk. She wanted to protest, but couldn't seem to find her voice. She looked back at him as she was escorted away, seeing that Iron Man wasn't getting up.

Tony could taste blood in his mouth, which wasn't a good thing. He wanted to get up, but couldn't. His armor was now on its power reserve, and it was low. He was lucky that his life support system was still working. He could feel the pain starting up. His whole left side was burning. A military officer ran to his aid.

"Iron Man, what can I do?"

"Call Rhodes, he'll…..know what…..to do." Iron Man told him, weak. The officer pulled out a communications device and began to tell someone to get a hold of James Rhodes. Once Rhodes heard what happened and what type of shape Iron Man was in, he began to fear the worst.

What looked like a private ambulance drove up to a Stark factory, one that had been closed down for a year now. There was a building off to the side that looked like a hanger, but wasn't. The ambulance pulled into it. The huge doors of the building closed behind. James Rhodes and a female doctor got out the back. Tony was lying on a stretcher; most of his armor was off, as his best friend had to pry it off him, so the doctor could look him over. An I.V. was in his right arm. They pulled him out of the back and began to push him to a room that was to the left. They moved him to a bed there. The room looked like one you would see in a hospital. Rhodes then left to head back to the ambulance.

"You're damn lucky Tony." the doctor told him. Her name was Heidi White. She was a few years older then him and became his private doctor ever since he became Iron Man. "You didn't rapture any organs, but you got three broken ribs, along with other things."

"Just give me some pain killers and I'll be on my way."

"Oh no! You need to rest. If you go back out there, you'll kill yourself." she told him.

"Come on Heidi, I can't stay in bed, you know that." Tony told her. Rhodey walked in carrying some of the armor pieces.

"Where you want these?" he asked Tony.

"Just throw them over there." Tony told him, while pointing to a corner of the room.

"You better listen to me this time. You're extremely dehydrated; you have three broken ribs on your left side, along with a few gashes on your leg and arm that need stitches. You're the only patient of mine that's stubborn." she told him.

"He's Tony Stark, what do you expect." Rhodey told her. Tony looked at her with a smile.

"He's got a point." Tony said. She shook her head as she walked out to get what she needed to patch him up. A few moments passed by and she came back with a tray that had what she needed to stitch him up. She started on his arm first. She numbed the three areas once she cleaned them. Tony lay still, not wanting to watch as she pushed the needle in and then out, closing the gaps. Tony knew he would be missing even more work, and the board would start to wonder what was going on. Once she was done, she moved down to his leg and did the same thing, though he had five areas that required stitches. Tony saw that Rhodey was on his cell phone. Rhodey then walked to him once done.

"Pepper will be by later." Rhodey told him. Tony nodded. "You really look like hell now."

"Thanks." Tony said, starting to not feel good. A few more moments passed by and Heidi was done. She even bandaged up his torso, so his rib cage could heal.

"I'll be by tomorrow afternoon to check on you. You better be here." she told him.

"I will." he told her while he watched her a put a different smaller bag on the I.V. stand.

"This is a pain killer. It'll release fluid every twelve hours." she told him.

"Alright." he said. He knew the other bigger bag was what was getting him hydrated. Rhodey and Heidi left, leaving Tony alone. An hour passed when Pepper walked in. She carried a duffle bag that had some things in it for him.

"How you feeling?" she asked him. He now had the sheets on him as he had gotten comfortable and the small LCD TV was on. He looked to her.

"Aside from the pain and not being able to go home, not bad." he told her.

"Here, I stopped by your house and packed you a bag. Rhodey told me I should."

"Good." he said to her as she placed the bag on a chair that was near him.

"Alex has been asking about you. She called me while I was on my way here. Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything."

"I saw her." he told her. "I landed on my back on her car's hood. I saw her, and she saw me."

"But she doesn't know." she said. Tony sighed.

"I think its best she never knows." he told her.


	5. Chapter 5

That night was the worst for Tony. All that ran through his mind was seeing Alex. He hadn't seen her since the lunch meeting with Rhodey. It was ten o' clock at night and the TV was off. He looked to his cell phone and picked it up. He went to his contacts and found her name. He looked at her name for a few seconds, wondering if he should call. He made up his mind as he sat the phone down on the bed. He wanted to call; he really did, but thought the time wasn't right. He knew if he called her, she would want to see him. He was lying enough to her, and he didn't want to do that anymore. Even though he had told Pepper that he would never tell Alex that he was Iron Man. The day had been rough for him, he knew that. Almost every news channel was playing what happened. What disturbed him the most was the video footage that was taken from civilians who filmed it. The news reporters were saying a fuel line had burst for no reason, causing the building to blow. But there was a reason; he knew that, as he began to remember.

He was fighting a man who was in a suit similar to his. How they were able to get a suit like his, he was still trying to figure that out. The man was fast, faster then him. He went to use his repulsor ray on the guy and missed, hitting the ground where a fuel line laid. Once that happened, he went flying backwards, his systems out of control. The man had escaped. And now here he was lying in a bed, bored and upset. Bored because he hated having to be in bed when he was ill; and upset cause of what happened. He looked to where his armor laid. He wanted to get up and go to it, clean the dried blood from it. But every time he moved, he felt uncomfortable in his ribs. He let out a sigh and a small cuss.

Alex was at home. She was sitting on her couch with her robe on, watching a movie on TV and eating popcorn when her cell phone rang. She had seen the movie before and it didn't bother her that someone was calling her at ten thirty at night. She picked her phone off the coffee table, sat back and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Alex, I just got home from work and saw the news. Please tell me you went home a different way today." the person over the phone said. The person was her best friend since high school, Michelle.

"Wish I could say that."

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I just scrapped my knee, nothing big. Though my car on the other hand. Yeah, Iron Man pretty much destroyed."

"At least you're ok. That's the main thing." Michelle told her.

"Yeah, I'm happy nothing bad happened." Alex said, though she began to remember looking at Iron Man, lying on the ground not moving. She wondered what happened to him, if he was alright or not. Just then, her other line began to beep in. "Michelle, my other line is coming in. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Sure." she said.

"Cool. Talk to you then. Bye." Alex said as she switched to the other line.

"Alex?" a familiar voice said on the other end.

"Oh my god, Tony! Where the hell are you?" Alex asked him as she got up from the couch, shocked.

"I'm overseas." he told her. "I called as I just found out what happened over there. You ok?"

"I'm fine. Is Iron Man ok?"

"He'll be fine." Tony told her. He looked to his armor again as he talked with her.

"When you coming back to work?" she asked.

"Not sure. Soon, hopefully. Listen, I got to go." he told her.

"Ok. It was nice hearing from you. I was beginning to worry."

"You were worried about me?" he said.

"Yeah." she told him as she sat back down. "You're my boss and I care about you."

"Thanks. I care about you too." he told her.

"Don't be a stranger, ok?"

"Ok." he said with a small laugh. They both hung up.

Tony sat his phone down. He still couldn't believe he called her and lied. He felt terrible. But he had told himself that she at least deserved to hear from him. After all, she had been calling him and leaving voice mails for the past few days. He decided to call it a night as he turned the light off behind him and went to sleep.

It was two in the afternoon when Dr. White walked towards the room where Tony was resting, and became very upset at what she saw.

"Anthony Stark! What are you doing?" she yelled at him, seeing that he was over in the corner where his armor was at, sitting in a chair with no shirt and pajama pants on.

"Cleaning my armor, what's it look like." he replied back. He was using a rag and a strong solution, trying his best to get the blood off.

"That stuff stinks. You trying to kill yourself?" she asked him as she walked to him.

"Maybe." he told her, which wasn't true. He just loved giving her a hard time.

"You're supposed to be resting." she told him while trying to get him to get up and get back in bed.

"Hey, you got to give me credit. I could have went home, but I stayed." he told her as he sat down on the bed. He watched as she picked up the bucket that had the rag in it and place it outside the door. She then went over to him and began looking him over.

"How did you sleep?" she asked him.

"Alright." he said. "Though I don't think the pain killer is strong enough."

"I'll fix the dosage so it drips more often." she told him. He nodded. "You didn't clean your stitches this morning?" she asked him, seeing they were passed due.

"I guess I forgot." he told her, seeing she was checking the ones on his leg. She went ahead and cleaned them all for him and fixed the pain killer to drip every eight hours instead of twelve. She told him that he has to clean his stitches at least twice a day, more if they get dirty for some reason. She also told him that he needs to stay in bed and rest, or she would see to it that he be put into a real hospital.


	6. Chapter 6

Monday came and as soon as Alex got in to work, she went straight to Pepper's office. Some thing had been bugging her since she woke up. All she could think about over the weekend was Tony and why he was overseas when Pepper had told her that he was in New York City the last she talked with her, which was Friday. Something wasn't adding up, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. She walked to Pepper's office and noticed she wasn't in. She looked around for a moment, making sure no one was looking as she went for a schedule book that was lying on the desk. She picked it up and turned to the current month, and was shocked to see that coming days were marked out, and the days that Pepper claimed he was out of town were blank, even that past Friday. 'He should have been here those days.' she thought to herself. She heard something that startled her and quickly put the book down. She was lucky that it was just someone passing by the door. She let out a sigh of relief and went to her office, still puzzled at what she saw.

Pepper Potts didn't get into work till one in the afternoon, as she was with Tony, working on past due paper work that needed to be submitted by the end of the day. She walked in the office and placed the few folders she had down on her desk before sitting down. She started looking through them, getting out the sighed ones when Alex walked in. She noticed she was closing the door behind her. Pepper quickly put the papers away as she didn't want Alex to see them.

"We need to talk." Alex told her as she walked towards the desk.

"Alright." Pepper said as she pushed the folders under her schedule book.

"First, where's Tony?"

"I told you Friday where he was at." Pepper said to her, starting to feel uncomfortable. She really wished Tony hadn't called Alex that night.

"New York, right? Isn't that what you told me?"

"I….." Pepper started to say. She was cussing Tony in her mind now. "Did I say that? Silly me…." Pepper laughed as she began to think fast. "He's not in New York, he's actually overseas."

"Then how come these are blank?" Alex asked as she went to grab the book. As she grabbed it, one of the folders fell to the floor, a page slipped out which had Tony's signature and current date on it. Alex saw and was no longer interested in the book, but the paper. She slowly picked it up, staring at the signature and date. "Why are you lying for him?" Alex asked, almost a whisper as she placed the paper down on the desk.

"I'm sorry." Pepper said to her.

"He's not in New York, he's not overseas. He's still here in town." Alex told her. Pepper nodded. "I thought he trusted me. What's he hiding?"

"I wish I could tell you, I really do." Pepper told her in a sincere voice.

"Is he at home?" Alex asked. Pepper looked at her for a moment. She hated lying, and she wasn't that good. She knew one day Alex would find out, she just didn't like the way it was going. "Can you at least answer me that."

"He's not home." Pepper finally told her. She knew that if she said yes, Alex would just go there looking for him.

"Where is he? All I could think about was him over the weekend, especially after he called me Friday night. I told him that I care about him, and I do. He even said he cares about me too. How am I to have anything with him if he lies about stuff?"

"You want to have something with him?" Pepper asked, seeing that she was starting to get upset.

"Yes." Alex said as she finally sat down. "I felt something in me when he went away. It's been almost two weeks now since I've seen him, and you just saw him today."

'Should I take her to him?' Pepper asked herself as she listened to Alex. Alex really liked Tony and was really worried about him. And Alex was getting all worked up over it too. Pepper really started to feel bad. Pepper finally made up her mind as she got up and grabbed her purse.

"Come on." Pepper said to her. Alex looked up at her. "I'll take you to Tony."

Tony was lying in bed, typing on his laptop. He was still hooked up to the I.V.; though he wished at times he wasn't. A few long cords ran from the laptop and to his Iron Man helmet which sat on a table near the door. The helmet was all banged up and he knew he wouldn't be able to truly fix it. He was trying to salvage what information he had gotten off the guy he battled from the HUD in his helmet when he heard Pepper walking in.

"Don't tell me you got more papers for me." Tony said as he looked at her.

"No. I got something better. Now if you get upset over it, then…." Pepper started to say. Tony had a puzzled look on his face to this news. Pepper looked to the opened door. "Come on in!" she yelled out. Alex slowly walked in, looking at him. She couldn't believe what she saw. "I didn't tell her anything, I just brought her here. I felt it was time." Pepper told him. He was lost for words. A part of him was getting upset, really upset. He didn't want Alex to see him like this, all banged up and in pain. "I'll let you two talk." Pepper said as she headed out, closing the door behind her.

"So," Alex said.

"Yeah." Tony said, not sure what to say. It was silent for a good couple of minutes till she finally spoke.

"You're him, aren't you?" Alex said as she noticed the armor on the floor and helmet on the table.

"Yeah, reason why I'm like this." he told her.

"You owe me a car."

"I'll get you a new one. Sorry about that." he told her with a smile.

"Are you ok?" she asked him as she got closer to his bed, now worried about his condition

"I guess. I got three broken ribs." he told her as he saved what he was doing; then closed his laptop. "I'll survive, I always do." he added.

"Tell me everything, please." she told him as she sat down in the chair that was near him. He looked at her and began to notice how much he missed seeing her. He began to tell her how he became Iron Man, how he could never stop being him. How at times it was like a thrill ride inside the suit. Then he began tell her about the current situation, how someone has made a suit like his, how he was going after the guy that day. How he screwed up and hit the fuel line, resulting in his current state. During that talk, Pepper had come in to let Alex know that she had to get back to the office. Tony told Pepper that he would pay for a taxi to take Alex back. Once Pepper left, they continued to talk.

"Let me help you." Alex said, now standing by the armor pieces on the floor. She picked a piece up and noticed it was heavy.

"Help me how?" he asked her.

"I don't know…….make me a suit." she said to him as she looked the armor over.

"No! Out of the question!" Tony told her in a stern voice. She looked to him.

"Then how are you going to defeat this guy if you're laid up in bed."

"Trust me, I rather be out there." he told her.

"You told me this guy is fast, faster then you, in reaction time. If I had a suit, it would be smaller since I'm a woman and I'm sure the reaction time of it would be better." she explained. "You know……I could always build me my own. I already know how your blueprints work." she added as she walked back to him.

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you." he told her.

"So, you got any better ideas?" she asked him.

"What are you going to do with a suit?"

"Do what you do." she told him. He let out a sigh as he began to think. He really wasn't planning on something like this to happen. She started doing something to him that he couldn't believe would ever happen. "You'll always have me around then." she said to him, giving him a face that a child would give when they wanted something really bad. Tony began to laugh, which hurt a little.

"Fine, I'll give you a key to my place along with the code to my workshop. Jarvis can help you build a suit. You can stay at my place if you want."

"And you stay here? Why don't you go home?" she asked him.

"That's a good question." he said while wondering the same thing. "You know what, I'll go home tonight." he told her as he picked up his cell phone to call his doctor.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony was all smiles as he walked through the front door of his house. He was happy to finally get out of that room. He no longer needed the I.V. and Heidi had given him pain pills to take home. She also made it clear to him that he still needed to rest.

"Welcome home sir." Jarvis said to him.

"Thank you, Jarvis." Tony said back. Alex wasn't far behind. She walked in carrying a couple bags that she had packed real quickly at home before heading over. She was going to be staying at his place for awhile so she could get her armor done as soon as possible. Tony took her to his guest room so she could put her things up. He then told her to meet him down in his workshop once she was done.

Alex entered the workshop and was amazed what she saw. Some of the things that were there reminded her of what you might see in an auto plant. It was now eight at night, and she had finally got out of her work cloths and into some shorts and a t-shirt.

"Now I understand why you couldn't wait to get home." she told Tony as she walked to where he was at, bringing up blueprints on a computer screen. She also noticed other screens were around and they too had images of armor. She stood behind and watched him.

"This is the one we should base yours after." he told her. She looked at the blueprint on the screen. It was very sleek looking.

"I like it." she told him. He got up and took her towards the scanner.

"I'm going to have to scan you." he told her. "It'll get all the info we'll need to put into the armor." he explained as he motioned for her to stand in the middle.

"This isn't like an ex-ray machine is it?" she asked as she looked at the thing that was in front of her.

"Nah." he told her with a smile. "Ok, Jarvis." The machine hummed to life. "Just stay still." he told her. Alex stood as still as she could as a blue light went up and down her front a couple of times before moving around her, getting her sides and back. Once that was done, she went to go see what was next. Jarvis now had all of the information that Tony needed to program the suit with. He made a few changes to the blueprint. Now the armor was looking more feminine, and Alex liked what she saw.

"It's an Iron Girl." she said while looking at the image.

"Hmmm….." Tony said as he leaned back in his chair, checking out the renderings that Jarvis was putting up on the screen with the data he got from the scan. Alex smacked Tony on his shoulder. "What!?" he laughed as he turned around to see her.

"Men." was all she said as she shook her head, though she too began to laugh. She then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. He smiled at her and wasn't sure what to say. "That was for letting me help you." she told him.

The next day came and Alex found it strange sleeping in on a work day. She got up out of bed and threw her robe on. She looked at the clock on the night stand and saw it was eleven in the morning, which was very late to her for a Tuesday as she was usually up at six. She walked to the bathroom that was in the room and decided to take a quick shower. Later once she was dressed, she made it out to the living room where Tony was sitting on the couch, talking on the phone. And he didn't sound happy.

"I don't care what the damn board thinks! I own the company!" he yelled to the person over the phone. Alex was happy she wasn't the person on the other end. He looked in her direction. "Listen I got to go." he told the person over the phone. "Just buy me some more time. I'm not up for any meetings." he added. "Ok, bye." He then hung up and put the cordless down. "Sorry you had to hear that. The board's been getting on Pepper's case about me not being in the office."

"So that was Pepper on the phone?"

"Yeah, she's use to me when I get upset like that." he told her. "What type of car do you want?" he asked her as he got up.

"Oh, well……" she started to think. "I've always liked those 350z's." she told him.

"Alright, we'll go to the dealership today, and get you one. I do owe you a car after all." he said with a smile.

"That's right, you do." she said, knowing that was what he was after when he asked the question.

"Just give me a few to get ready and we'll head out."

"Ok. Mind if I go down to the workshop?" she asked.

"No, go ahead." he told her.

She headed down stairs while Tony went to get ready. She was already for the day as she was wearing a light blue shirt and white capris on, along with sandals. She was taken back when she saw her armor, hanging on some chains. It was very shinning and slick to the touch. It was cold as she ran a figure over it. The armor had her features to it and it was amazing. She had to been staring at it for awhile as she began to hear Tony's voice, pulling her away from the amazement.

"Jarvis just got that done early this morning. Still needs to be programmed and tweaked. I figured you would like to do that."

"Yes, I would." she told him as she slowly turned around and saw him. And she liked what she saw. He was in jeans and a shirt. He also had a jacket on. "Aren't you going to be hot with that jacket on?"

"No, besides, I have to hide the stitches on my arm. Don't need the public getting word of that." he told her. She nodded. They then left in his Audi R8 and to the dealership to get her a new car.

They pulled up into the Nissan dealership and the couple of sales men that were outside the building smoking took notice right away as the Audi parked. Tony got out and so did Alex.

"Is that who I think it is?" the older sales man, who had to be in his late forties, asked the other way.

"Yup, it's him. I over heard from Eric that he was stopping by. The manger will be in a very good mood today." the younger one said as they watched Tony and Alex walk towards the building. They walked up the stairs and inside. The younger one looked in at Alex and then let out a sigh. "How come he gets all the pretty women?"

"My boy…." the other began to say. "It's the money. That's what gets them." The two finished their smoke and went to help other customers that were walking the lot, looking at the cars.

A gentleman who was about Tony's age approached them as they walked in.

"Hello Mr. Stark, we spoke on the phone, my name's Eric." the man said who seemed to be in very good mood. The manger of the dealership had been on Eric's case since his sales had been dropping, he hadn't sold a single car in two days. And when he talked to Tony on the phone, he knew that things were looking up.

"Please, call me Tony." he told him. Eric smiled and nodded. He then took them back outside and over to the 350z's.

"So what are we looking for?" he asked them.

"It's going to be hers." Tony said while looking at Alex. Alex began to walk around the cars, looking them over. They followed behind her. She took notice to a white coupe. She looked at the specs that was posted on the window and liked what she saw; she then took notice to the thirty-seven grand price tag. She knew the car that Iron Man destroyed was nowhere near how much this one was.

"This one looks good." she finally said.

"This one is one of our grand touring models. It has a great stereo system." he told them. He then went on telling them the other things it had. The car was unlocked and she sat in it, really liking the leather seats. She and Eric went on a test drive while Tony took a call on his cell phone. Everything went well, and she fell in love with the car. Alex went through the paperwork, signing paper after paper. Tony wrote a check, paying for the car in full.

"My wife won't believe me when I tell her." Eric said to another sales man as they watched them drive away.

"Yeah, I wish I could have sold a car to Tony Stark." the other said.

"Have to be in the right place at the right time." Eric told him.

Later that night, Alex was to test drive her suit of armor.


	8. Chapter 8

It was one in the morning when she finally was able to finish programming her suit. Tony had helped her when she came across stuff she wasn't sure about. She wanted to make sure everything was right as she would be the one wearing it. The suit had no A.I. in it yet as she hadn't gotten that far, but the suit was still able to be taken out for a test flight with Jarvis monitoring. She was excited as the armor began to go on her. Tony stood watching. As soon as the helmet came down, the suit came alive. Information on everything that was around her that she could see popped up in her HUD.

"I'll be here watching you on the monitor." Tony told her. "Be careful out there."

"I will." she said back as she readied herself. Jarvis was there with her, though he hadn't fully uploaded himself into her suit. The thrusters came online and she felt herself slowly lift upward. She did what Tony had shown her and knew what to expect and what to do for flying the suit. Before she knew it, she was outside and up in the skies. She freaked at one point but got over it quickly and was starting to enjoy it. 'This is like a thrill ride.' she thought to herself as she flew through the air. She was a few hundred feet up when something happened.

Her HUD began to flash red, the word warning popped up. "Tony, you there?"

"I'm here. What's going on?" Tony said as he saw readings come up on the screen that Jarvis was sending back.

"I don't……."

"ALEX!" Tony yelled when she heard her get cut off. "Jarvis, what's going on?"

"Her suit seems to be malfunctioning, sir." Jarvis told him.

Alex felt herself become very heavy as her systems were slowly shutting down. Her HUD was still flashing red, but went dark as soon as she hit the ground. She felt dizzy and wanted to lift her head but couldn't. She came to find out she couldn't move at all. It was dark in her helmet, very dark. The only light she could see was in the sky from the moon, and that was limited due to the eye slights.

"Jarvis, where is she?" Tony asked as he got up in a hurry.

"The city park, sir. I believe she crashed landed."

"Suit me up! I've got to go for her." he told him as he stood on the platform where Alex had just been. Iron Man came online.

Alex laid there. She was starting to feel it was hard to breath. She wanted to take the damn helmet off, but couldn't. She was trying to keep clam as she could feel herself wanting to freak out. Then she heard someone near her.

"You're not Iron Man." a male voice said. It was the guy that Iron Man had been trying to take out, and now he was here. He kneeled down. "I picked up your frequency. My…..I guess he really is out of commission if you're here." he said to her as he touched her armor.

"Leave her alone!!" Iron Man yelled as he used his repulsor ray and hit the ground behind the guy at a low level, giving a warning shot. He then went right for the guy and pushed him aside. "Jarvis get her suit online." he told him as he began to fight the guy.

"Trying, sir." Jarvis replied back. A few more seconds went by for Alex when she could feel cool air beginning to enter her helmet. She took a deep breath and was starting to feel better. She still couldn't move, but could hear the fight going on around her. She cussed as she wanted to see what was happening and wanted to help Tony.

Iron Man threw the guy into a few tress; some started to fall down due to the impact. The guy got back up and hovered in the air. "I never did tell you my name." the guy said. "They call me Titanium Man."

"They're about to call you 'dead' when I'm done with you!" Iron Man told him as he flew towards him, repulsors blazing. Titanium Man just deflected the shots and the grass around started to catch fire. People who were passing by in their cars stopped outside of the park entrance when they noticed the blaze, which was spreading quickly. One person called 911. The fight went on and once again, Tony was taking a beating, though he did mange to rough him up before he started to use his speed. Titanium Man made circles around Iron Man, throwing a few punches, one resulting into his already broken rib cage, causing more damage. Iron Man screamed at the pain as he felt some of the armor on that side got dented inward, putting pressure on his ribs. He then let out an electric shock to Iron Mans systems. He wasn't trying to kill him, but after more information on the tech that Iron Man wore. Iron Man fell to the ground, while his systems recovered.

"It's been real fun!" Titanium Man said just before he took off. Iron Man slowly got up and saw the park on fire. He saw firefighters were already on the scene. He walked to Alex and picked her up before flying back home. Once home, Jarvis was able to bring Alex's suit online and was then able to get out of it. She wasn't sure if she would be able to go through that again. Tony took off his helmet just before he collapsed to the floor. Alex ran to him.

"It burns…." Tony said as he cringed at the pain coming from his rib cage. Alex helped him get up so they could get him out of his armor. She then helped him to his chair.

"I'll go get your pain pills." Alex told him as she ran out of the workshop and upstairs.

The following day wouldn't be a pretty one. It was three in the afternoon and Alex was down in the workshop, working on the computer program for her suit when she decided to take a break. As she made her way up the stairs, she heard a huge argument going on. There were three people total, one female, one male, and then Tony. She decided to not go completely up and stayed down enough so no one saw her as she listened.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Rhodes yelled to Tony.

"I don't have a problem." Tony whispered, though Rhodes could hear him.

"Oh, you don't? You better think about that again. You were told to rest, not be going out there in that death suit of yours."

"He's right Tony, you need to rest. Look at you." Pepper told him. Tony was sitting down on his couch, very upset. He hated being talked to like this, he wasn't a child. Though they were there cause they cared and wanted to help him.

"I can do whatever the hell I please!" Tony yelled back as he got up, though he had a hard time moving. He placed his right hand on his left side as pain began to surge through him.

"And what's this about Alex? You got her going out there now too?" Rhodes said.

"That was her choice." he told him as he slowly made his way to where he kept his alcohol.

"No, I think you some how influenced her." Tony was getting very upset when he heard that.

"I told you, IT WAS HER CHOICE!" Tony yelled. "Trust me; I didn't want her to be out there. She wanted to help me and I gave in." he added as he got his scotch out and a glass.

"Tony, no…." Pepper said as she ran to him when she saw what he was about to do.

"Leave me alone…." Tony told her as he motioned for her to go away. He then poured himself a drink and downed it pretty fast.

"But you were doing so good." she told him.

"Leave it to Tony Stark. When things start to go wrong in his life, he just goes back to the bottle." Rhodes said, now disgusted with Tony as he watched him pour another glass. "Come on Pepper. We're out of here." Rhodes told her. They left and now he was alone to his scotch. He picked up the bottle, glass still in hand, and took it over to the coffee table where he put it down. He sat back down and finished the glass before pouring another. Alex stayed where she was at for a moment, not sure what to do. Part of her said to get back in the workshop and just stay there, the other part said to go to him. Though she had this feeling that he didn't want anyone around. She then began to feel it was her fault. She began thinking if she hadn't wanted a suit, she would have never been out there that night, and Tony would have never gotten into that fight with Titanium Man, causing Tony even more pain. She finally made up her mind and slowly went up the stairs and stopped, looking at Tony who was looking really rough. 'I guess he didn't sleep good.' she thought to herself. Tony was sipping his scotch when he saw her.

"You want to yell at me too?" he asked her.

"No." she told him. This was the first time she saw him drinking. And by what she heard Pepper say, she took it he had a problem in that area. "Should you be drinking while on pain killers?" she asked him.

"Screw the pain killers. They're not doing shit for me." he told her as he finished his third glass.

"Is Dr. White coming by to look you over?" she asked with concern in her voice.

"I didn't call her. She's just going to tell me the same damn thing, rest, rest, rest." he told her as he poured another glass. Alex really didn't like what she was seeing. Yesterday went so well, and now this happens.

"But what if something more serious is wrong now? You have to get looked over." she tried telling him. Tony looked at her, anger in his eyes.

"I'm really getting sick of people telling me what to do!" he yelled to her.

"Fine." she said, feeling like she was about to cry. She held it back though. "I'm sorry for caring. I'm sorry I wanted to help and what I put you through last night. And I'm sorry we ever met!" she yelled as she ran for the front door, feeling that she couldn't hold it back anymore. She left, slamming the door behind her. Tony finished his drink before throwing the glass to the wall out of anger. It broke and pieces lay on the floor, where it would sit for some time. He then heard a car drive away. Tony was now truly alone.


	9. Chapter 9

Tony was sitting in his workshop, doing nothing. A lot had just happened and he was trying his best to figure out what to do. He had come down once he finished off the scotch. He wanted more, he felt it in the back of his mind, but he was trying to fight it. He looked at Alex's armor from where he sat. She had left about two hours ago. He picked up his cell phone and decided to call her.

Alex made it to her best friends place. It was the only place she could go to and talk. Michelle was already home from work and told Alex to come on over. They were always there for each other. They were both sitting outside on the porch of Michelle's apartment. Michelle was a smoker and only smoked outside.

"I still can't believe you're staying at Tony Stark's place. You keeping anything else form me?" Michelle asked her with a laugh. Alex smiled.

"Can I have a smoke?" Alex asked. Michelle looked at her, shocked.

"You?!" she said. "Something really bad must have happened if you're asking me for a cigarette." she added as she gave her one, along with the lighter. Alex took it and lit up. She felt a small buzz as she inhaled as she never smoked before. She then let out a small cough and Michelle laughed. "Don't get addicted." she told Alex. Alex's cell phone rang and she took it out of her pocket.

"Speaking of Tony." she said as she saw his name pop up. She sighed and answered it. "Hello." she said.

"I'm sorry." Tony told her. "Come back."

"You done drinking?" she asked him as she saw her best friend looking at her. Alex smiled and tried shooing her away. Michelle got up and went back inside.

"Sort of." Tony answered.

"Sort of isn't a good answer."

"How much did you over hear?" he asked her.

"Pretty much the part where you were yelling at the people who care about you." she told him.

"So you weren't there when I found out what's going on with my company."

"No."

"Well, it seems while I've been away, the board is planning to replace me. Pepper found that out this morning. If I'm not at the next board meeting, which is two days away, they'll be taking votes." he explained to her.

"Then go to the meeting." she told him.

"I may have to." he said. "Alex, please come back. I need you here."

"I don't know Tony," she said as she got up. Michelle lived on the third floor and the porch was screened in. Alex looked down at her new car, the one he paid for. 'He destroyed my last car, why should I feel guilty.' she thought as she turned around, looking at the sliding glass door.

"Please……don't make me beg."

"You going to shape up?" she asked him.

"If that's what it's going to take, then yeah." he told her.

"Fine. I'll be over later." she told him. "I also think you should call Rhodes and Pepper and apologize to them."

"I'm going to." he assured her.

It was later at night till Alex got back to Tony's place. She had gone out to dinner with Michelle and hung out for awhile after as they didn't see each other as much. It was nine at night as she walked through the front door. She noticed he was passed out on his couch as she walked in the living room. She sighed to herself when she noticed another empty bottle on the floor by the couch and the one he finished earlier standing on the coffee table. She also saw broken glass on the floor from where he threw it. 'I guess he's done now.' she thought to herself as she walked towards him. She picked up the bottles and threw them away before cleaning up the glass. She heard Tony mumble something in his sleep, at first she thought he was waking up, but saw that he wasn't. She kind of smiled at him as he slept.

"Tony….." she whispered to him as she kneeled down beside him. She smiled as she said his name a few times, getting a bit louder. She was trying to get him to wake up so he would go to bed and not be sleeping on the couch.

"Huh….." he started to say as his eyes slowly opened. He turned his head and smiled when he saw her.

"Hi." she said with a smile. Tony smiled also.

"Hi." he replied.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." she said as she was helping him get up.

There was an old warehouse on the other side of the city. Inside of the office there sat an older heavy set man, he was talking to a teenage boy when Titanium Man walked in.

"Any word?" the older man asked once the boy left.

"It won't be much longer till Stark Industries falls." Titanium Man told him just before taking off his helmet. The man inside was young and had blonde hair. "Iron Man can't beat me, and I've gotten him so wore down, he won't be able to protect Stark for long." he added.

"Good, good." the man nodded with a smile. "You get anymore specs off of Iron Man?"

"They're right here." he told him as he tossed a CD on the desk. The man smiled as he picked it up.

The next morning Alex woke to her cell phone ringing. She saw it was Pepper calling.

"Alex, where's Tony?"

"Probably still in bed, I don't know." Alex told her as she tried waking up. She saw it was seven in the morning.

"Well, you need to get him up and down to the main factory. There was a break in overnight and some designs got stolen. I'm on my way over there now. He has to be there." Pepper told her.

"Alright….." Alex said as she began to get out of bed.

"Call me if you have any problems with him."

"I will." Alex said before they hung up. Alex let out a long yawn and stretched her arms over her head. She grabbed her robe, put it on, and headed towards his bedroom.

"Jarvis, lights." she said as she walked into the bedroom. Lights came on and saw that he was in fact, still asleep. She sat down on the other side and smiled. "Wake up Tony." she said as she nudged him.

"No…." Tony mumbled. She put her head down near his face so he could see her.

"You need to wake up."

"Why?" Tony said as he rolled onto his back. You could tell he was hung over.

"The main factory had a break in." she told him. "And I'm not saying that to just get you up." she added as she sat up now. Tony rubbed his head and slowly started to sit up. The room spun for a bit then the feeling went away. "When was the last time you changed your bandage?" she asked him.

"Tuesday." he told her.

"Get up, get showered and dressed. I'll go make some coffee and then get ready myself." she told him.

"You're starting to sound like Pepper." he said as he got out of bed.

"Well, I guess I have to since she's not here." she said with a smile.


	10. Chapter 10

News reporters, camera men, and photographers were all around outside the main factory of Stark Industries. News traveled fast as Pepper had only been there at the scene for ten minutes when the media pulled in. She knew this was going to be a crazy morning. She looked down at her watch and saw it was almost eight in the morning. The police had gotten there a little after seven and were inside looking around and talking to employees on what they found when they got in at six-thirty. Pepper noticed the media starting to run and knew that Tony must be pulling in. A Rolls Royce indeed pulled up and in the back seat sat Tony and Alex. Private security guards were by the back side doors, protecting them from the media as they got out. Tony wore a business suit and had his sunglasses on and Alex was in her normal work attire. Photographers began to take pictures, some wondering who Alex was. Pepper sighed to herself knowing what she would be hearing about come tomorrow. Many of the news reporters where calling his name, trying to get his attention, as his security walked them to where Pepper was. Alex looked around at the media and couldn't believe the type of attention Tony got. She wasn't use to this and wondered what would happen to her if she were to start dating him.

"What did they steal?" Tony asked Pepper.

"They're not sure yet. They're still going through the computer files." she told him.

"Were there any finished products that got stolen?"

"I think there were some that were done. They're still walking in there with the factory head." she informed him. Tony cringed as his rib cage felt like it was burning again and Alex noticed. She opened her purse and grabbed his pain killers for him and gave him two pills along with the bottle water she had. He took them quickly and then handed the water back to her.

"The media is demanding a press conference." Pepper told him. Tony turned around and saw all the people.

"Then I guess I'll have to give them one. Get it set up for me." Tony told Pepper just before he walked in the factory.

"How's he doing?" Pepper asked Alex.

"I'm not sure. I left just after you and Rhodes did."

"He yelled at you too?"

"Yeah." Alex said. "Then I found him passed out when I came back last night."

"He's going through a lot. He may say he doesn't need any help, but he knows I won't stop caring about him." Pepper told her.

"He knows I'll always be around." Alex said to her.

Later that day a press conference was called and both Pepper and Alex stood off to the side as they listened to Tony answer questions.

"What are your thoughts on Iron Man's actions at the city park about the fire he caused?" a reporter asked him.

"I assure you that that fire was an accident." Tony told the person.

"What about the rumor that's been going around about you stepping down and no longer being the C.E.O.?" a female reporter asked.

"That is just a rumor, and I am not planning to leave my company. I will be at the next board meeting which is tomorrow to discuss issues that have been made public, which some are not true." he told her.

"Mr. Stark, could you tell us which are true?"

"I won't be discussing any of that here at the moment." he informed them.

"What was stolen from the factory? Were there any weapons there?"

"That information will not be released."

"But if there were weapons in there, shouldn't the public know for safety sake?"

"We're still trying to figure out what all was stolen."

"Why didn't you say that for the last question? Are you hiding something, Mr. Stark?"

"I am not hiding anything. Information isn't completely available to me yet." he told them. Alex started to see that Tony wasn't looking so good all of a sudden. Pepper noticed also and told one of the guards it was time for him to be done. The guard helped Tony down while the press began to mingle. Some started to talk about the condition Tony seemed to be in.

"Oh my god, you're burning up." Pepper said as she felt his forehead.

"I'm alright." Tony told her. Alex helped Pepper with taking Tony into the small office that was near the conference area. They sat him down in a chair.

"I'm calling Dr. White." Alex said as she took out her cell.

"No. Not here." Tony told her. "The press doesn't need to know about this." he added as he took off his suit jacket and tie.

"No, call Dr. White. Have her meet you at the house. We'll take him through the back way so you can get him home. I'll have Hogan pull the car around there." Pepper told Alex who nodded in agreement.

"Come on…." Alex said as she helped Tony up who seemed to be getting worse. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah." he told her. They made their way to the back of the building were the car was waiting. Hogan helped her put Tony in the back. Alex wasn't sure what was going on with him but she didn't like it. He was fine when they got there. All she could think of is that something must have happened when he went into the factory. A young man was standing on top of the building that was near the one they just came out of. He had on a hoodie and the hood was up, so no one could see his face. He smiled to himself as he watched the ill Stark be driven away.

They were now back at home and Tony laid in bed with a cold wet cloth on his forehead. Alex had helped him lay down. Dr. White walked into the bedroom. Alex left the room so the doctor could look him over. Alex sat on the couch, wanting to know what was happening. She began to worry and it was making her sick to her stomach. Dr. White came out to Alex.

"We need to get him to a hospital. I believe he's got a serious life threating virus."

"My god….." Alex said wanting to cry. A few moments passed when the ambulance came. Alex called Pepper and told her what was going on while crying. Tony ended up blacking out in the bedroom. Alex asked Pepper if she heard about any others that were in the factory that were getting sick and Pepper answered no.

"I guess he won't be there at the meeting tomorrow." Alex told Pepper over the phone as she followed the ambulance to the hospital.

"I'll call the board and see what I can do." Pepper told her. She too felt herself about to cry. "I'll be over there as soon as I can."

Back at the warehouse, the young man who had been on the building moments before, walked into the office. It was the man who was Titanium Man. He smiled as he sat in the chair. His plans were working perfectly. Now that Stark was about to be out of the picture, him and his boss could have a better chance at taking over Stark Industries. He knew what Stark had and how sick he was. After all, he was the one who came up with the virus and the one who gave it to him.

Alex reached the hospital and hurried in as they took Tony inside. She really hoped that the media wasn't going to get wind of this. Dr. White checked him in and got a nurse to ready a room for him. Alex was told to wait in the waiting area. Alex sat down and tried to relax. She jumped up when she saw Pepper walk towards her.

"Any news?" Pepper asked her. Alex shook her head no.

"They got him in a room. I don't know what's going on. I'm scared."

"I am too." Pepper told her. They both sat down. An hour went by when Dr. White came to them.

"He's stable, for now. We're running blood work on him as we speak." she told them.

"Can we see him?" Pepper asked.

"Sure." Dr. White said. They got up and followed her to his room. Tony was now awake, looking pale. She then left Pepper and Alex to talk to him.

"How you feeling?" Alex asked him as she sat down.

"I feel……like hell." he told her. He had that dreaded I.V. in him again and was also hooked up to oxygen. "Come on……..don't cry." he told the both of them.

"I talked to the board. They know what's going on and said they would push the meeting for the end of next week." Pepper told him.

"Good." Tony said as he turned to see Alex, he smiled at her. "I'm sorry……you keep seeing…..me like this."

"Don't say that." Alex told him. Seeing how bad Tony was, was making her want to work on her armor more and more and find out how he got this deadly virus.


	11. Chapter 11

Alex was in the workshop working on the A.I. program for her suit. She wanted to stay at the hospital with Tony; all she could think about was him as she worked. She knew she had to be the one to find out how Tony got this virus. Dr. White had told her the virus was attacking his blood cells and destroying them at a steady rate. Dr. White and others were trying their best to find a cure. Tony had to be hooked up to a heart monitor due to it. It was late at night as she began to bring the A.I. online that she named Emily.

"Emily, you there?" she asked while looking at a voice box that was connected to the computer she was working with.

"Yes, Ms. Knight." a female voice said from the box. Alex smiled.

"What month is it?" Alex asked her.

"It is the month of August." she replied. Alex had Emily run through a series of tests before she uploaded her to the armor. Alex then suited up and had Emily run through tests there. Everything was working. Jarvis had helped Alex with fixing the problems she had last time with the armor. She stood on the platform, all suited up. Her red and gold armor glistened in the light. She took to the skies, hoping she could find something at the factory. On her way there she came across Titanium Man, who was down below on the streets having fun creating havoc, destroying parked cars and shops. Alex decided that she would step in.

She landed not far from him.

"It's not nice to blow things up." she told him. He turned around and saw her.

"Actually, I was trying to get Iron Mans attention. And once again, I find you. Or should I say, you found me." he said to her. "Iron Man gave up and decided to send his girlfriend, I take it."

"What do you know about Tony Stark?" she asked him.

"Besides that he's an idiot, nothing."

"Nothing? I don't believe you. He's lying on his death bed and I think you know something." she told him, getting angry inside. She then lunged for him. He took to the skies and looked at her, laughing as she made pursuit.

"Ok, you got me! I gave Stark that virus and it's a good thing. Once he's gone, his company will fall and my boss will be there to pick it up and make it twice as better." he told her. She hated everything he was saying, she brought her weapons online and began to engage him, firing everything she had. He just laughed as he dodged all of them except one. The last one knocked him out of the air, hitting the pavement below. She landed again and walked towards him. She had fire in her eyes; she had killing thoughts within her mind. She wasn't Alex Knight anymore, she was Iron Girl, and she had a job to do.

"You're going to pay." she said to him as she watched him slowly get up. "Give me the cure."

"Cure?" he laughed. "I'm in business to kill people and steal tech, not making cures. Stark is as good as dead, which is a great thing."

"SHUT UP!!" she yelled as she used the armors strength to punch him in his helmet. She hit him so hard that his helmet flew off. She gasped at who she saw as he turned his head to see her.

"Will?" she said. Will Long, same age as Alex. He had gone to her college and they even dated for a few months. One month he just disappeared and she never saw or heard from him again.

"You know me? I guess I should know you." he said as he took her off guard and grabbed her by the throat. He was strong and she found that out fast. He pulled her closer to him and looked her over. "Come on now, show and tell." He found what he was looking for and used his other hand to touch a latch on her helmet which made the face plate part open up. He started laughing. "Alex. Alex Knight." as he said that she kneed him in his gut, which made him let go. Then her face plate closed.

"Why Will? Why are you acting like this?" she asked him.

"Why? You ask why." he said as he went for his helmet and put back on. "I use to be like you, I looked up to Stark. But when he decided to cut back on his weapons manufacturing, I began to hate him. And others have too. You want to know how many factories he closed, how many people lost their jobs." he began to tell her. He started laughing. "Face the facts Alex, Stark is finished. It's time for change. You might as well go to him, since I can see you love him, which I find is stupid. That virus was designed to kill someone within forty-eight hours. So he doesn't have much time."

"You bastard!" she yelled as she sent a huge electric shock towards him, which he wasn't expecting. He screamed in pain as his systems began to overload, she intensified the current and he fell to the ground, face first, his armor smoking. He wasn't moving. The electricity that she sent out killed him. She fell to her knees, crying inside of her helmet. Tony was dying and she couldn't do anything, and now she just killed someone out of anger.

"What have I done? What have I become?" she said to herself as she looked up into the night sky.

The next day Tony woke up very weak. He saw Pepper was in the room talking to a couple doctors. She turned and saw that he was awake and smiled at him.

"How you feeling?" she asked him.

"Like hell." he told her. "Where's Alex?"

"I'm not sure. I've been trying to call her and she's not picking up." she told him. "I do have good news though. The doctors may have found a way to slow the virus down."

"That's good." he said as he tried sitting up in the bed, Pepper saw and helped him. He was really wishing that Alex was there. He was starting to miss her and hoped that she was ok.

Alex laid in the guest bed at Tony's place. She laid still, not wanting to move. The room was still dark as she made sure Jarvis would keep the windows like that. Thoughts of her killing Will kept running through her mind. She had turned off her cell phone and had no clue that Pepper had been trying to get a hold of her. She slowly rolled to her side, holding the sheets up to her. She started crying again.


	12. Chapter 12

"Alex?" Pepper called out as she walked through the door. There was no answer. She headed down to the workshop and saw she wasn't there. "Jarvis, where's Alex?"

"She's in the guest bedroom, Ms. Potts. And she is in a very depressed state." he told her. Pepper ran back up the stairs and into the guest bedroom where Alex was in bed, the sheets now completely covering her. "Lights." Pepper said.

"I killed him….." Alex said as Pepper slowly pulled the sheets away to see her face. She saw that Alex had been crying.

"Killed who?" Pepper asked her. Alex turned her head to see Pepper better.

"Will Long. He was…..he was Titanium Man. I killed him. He made Tony sick and I killed him." Alex told her.

'Dear god.' Pepper thought in her mind as she saw Alex was gone. Pepper didn't know what to say to her. "Listen, I got some good news. The doctors found a way to slow the virus down. Tony's got a few more days now and they think they're getting closer to a cure." Pepper told her. Alex didn't say anything. "He wants to see you."

"I can't." she told her. "I can't show myself after what I did."

"It's five at night, it's time to get up. Come on." Pepper told her. Pepper had Jarvis lighten the windows so some sunlight would come in.

Over at a lab a few scientists were trying to find a cure to the virus. They were the ones who were able to slow the process.

"I think I got it!!" a male scientist said. Dr. White was there and went over to the microscope to see. What she saw was amazing. What the man had come up with was destroying the virus at a high rate, and new blood cells seemed to be growing in the process. The serum was copying Tony's blood cells, as if it were cloning them.

"How stable is this?" Dr. White asked.

"Very stable."

"Get some of that made ASAP. We need to get that in him." she told him.

Alex walked into Tony's hospital room. She saw that he was asleep. She went to the chair that was near him and sat down. She felt even more depressed looking at him. She wished she could help him, but she felt useless. Tony started opening his eyes and saw Alex.

"Hey." she said to him.

"I was starting to miss you." he told her.

"I know. Pepper told me. How you feeling?"

"About the same." he told her. She saw that he was moving his hand towards her. She went and held his hand, smiling. "I have a question." he said.

"Ok."

"Since I've been lying here sick, I've really been thinking about my life. I have been before this, especially when you left the other night. And I was wondering, if I get through this, will you go out with me?"

"For one, you will get through this. And second…." she said with a pause. "Yes, I'll go out with you." she added. "But I have something to tell you."

"Ok."

"I ran into Titanium Man last night….."

"He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No, no……far from that." Alex said as she took a deep breath. "I sort of…….killed him."

"Out of self defense, right."

"Well….." she began to say, not looking at him now. She looked back, still holding his hand. "He gave you this virus, he was saying hateful things about you, and I lost control of my emotions and used my suits power and killed him. He wasn't even attacking me. I'm sorry."

"It's ok." Tony told her with a sigh. "Things happen. We'll get through this."

"Thanks." she said. "Though I do need to ask you something. Titanium Man told me that you shut down some of your weapons factories and laid off a lot people. Is that true?"

"I hate to say it, but yes. I offered those people other jobs, only a few took my offer. I don't like making weapons as much anymore. Yes, I still design them, but it's hardly what I use to do." he told her. Pepper walked into the room with Dr. White. Tony noticed and saw that Dr. White had a syringe.

"This should make you feel a lot better." Dr. White told him as she walked to his bed.

"If it'll get me out of here, that would be better." he said to her. Dr. White then used the serum on him, injecting it into a vain in his right arm. Now they all had to play the waiting game and see how the rest of his body would re-act to it.

The next couple of days went well. Tony regain his strength and was starting to feel back to normal. It seemed that the serum even helped with healing his injuries he had. Alex was happy when the day came for him to be released. Things were looking up for the both of them as weeks went by and their relationship was going great. Tony was no longer having anymore problems within his company as he took care of any issues that came up. Though there would always be something going on to keep Iron Man busy and now he had her, Iron Girl, to help him out. And he was very grateful to have someone like her in his life.

**THE END**

_authors note: If you enjoyed this story please keep an eye out for more to come. There will be more with Alex and Tony in the near future. I have some ideas for short stories, some that may have appearances by other marvel heroes. _


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